NFI: a neuro-fuzzy inference method for transductive reasoning

This paper introduces a novel neural fuzzy inference method - NFI for transductive reasoning systems. NFI develops further some ideas from DENFIS - dynamic neuro-fuzzy inference systems for both online and offline time series prediction tasks. While inductive reasoning is concerned with the development of a model (a function) to approximate data in the whole problem space (induction), and consecutively - using this model to predict output values for a new input vector (deduction), in transductive reasoning systems a local model is developed for every new input vector, based on some closest to this vector data from an existing database (also generated from an existing model). NFI is compared with both inductive connectionist systems (e.g., MLP, DENFIS) and transductive reasoning systems (e.g., K-NN) on three case study prediction/identification problems. The first one is a prediction task on Mackey Glass time series; the second one is a classification on Iris data; and the last one is a real medical decision support problem of estimating the level of renal function of a patient, based on measured clinical parameters for the purpose of their personalised treatment. The case studies have demonstrated better accuracy obtained with the use of the NFI transductive reasoning in comparison with the inductive reasoning systems. © 2005 IEEE

Wetting and bonding characteristics of selected liquid-metals with a high power diode laser treated alumina bioceramic

Changes in the wettability characteristics of an alumina bioceramic occasioned by high power diode laser (HPDL) surface treatment were apparent from the observed reduction in the contact angle. Such changes were due to the HPDL bringing about reductions the surface roughness, increases in the surface O2 content and increases in the polar component of the surface energy. Additionally, HPDL treatment of the alumina bioceramic surface was found to effect an improvement in the bonding characteristics by increasing the work of adhesion. An electronic approach was used to elucidate the bonding characteristics of the alumina bioceramic before and after HPDL treatment. It is postulated that HPDL induced changes to the alumina bioceramic produced a surface with a reduced bandgap energy which consequently increased the work of adhesion by increasing the electron transfer at the metal/oxide interface and thus the metal-oxide interactions. Furthermore, it is suggested that the increase in the work of adhesion of the alumina bioceramic after HPDL treatment was due to a correlation existing between the wettability and ionicity of the alumina bioceramic; for it is believed that the HPDL treated surface is less ionic in nature than the untreated surface and therefore exhibits better wettability characteristics

Enhanced Photocatalytic Properties of PET Filaments Coated with Ag-N Co-Doped TiO2 Nanoparticles Sensitized with Disperse Blue Dyes

In this study, the effects of disperse blue dye-sensitization on the photocatalytic properties of the Ag-N co-doped TiO2 nanoparticles loaded on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) filaments are investigated under visible light irradiation. The microstructure and photocatalytic properties of the as-synthesized TiO2 nanocomposites, as well as the as-prepared PET filaments, are systematically characterized. The photocatalytic performance of the PET filaments coated with the Ag-N co-doped TiO2 nanoparticles sensitized with disperse blue dyes is evaluated via its capacity of photo-degrading methyl orange (MO) dyes under visible light irradiation. It is found that the holes are the predominant reactive radical species and the hydroxyl and superoxide radicals play a subordinate role in the photocatalytic reaction process. The reaction rate constant of the photocatalytic composite filaments is nearly 4.0 times higher than that of the PET filaments loaded solely with TiO2 nanoparticles. The resultant photocatalytic composite filaments are evident to be capable of repeatedly photo-degrading MO dyes without losing its photocatalytic activity significantly

A Weak Gravity Conjecture for Scalar Field Theories

We show that the recently proposed weak gravity conjecture\cite{AMNV0601} can be extended to a class of scalar field theories. Taking gravity into account, we find an upper bound on the gravity interaction strength, expressed in terms of scalar coupling parameters. This conjecture is supported by some two-dimensional models and noncommutative field theories.Comment: version published in JHE

On the transport and thermodynamic properties of quasi-two-dimensional purple bronzes A0.9_{0.9}Mo6_6O17_{17} (A=Na, K)

We report a comparative study of the specific heat, electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity of the quasi-two-dimensional purple bronzes Na$_{0.9}$Mo$_6$O$_{17}$ and K$_{0.9}$Mo$_6$O$_{17}$, with special emphasis on the behavior near their respective charge-density-wave transition temperatures $T_P$. The contrasting behavior of both the transport and the thermodynamic properties near $T_P$ is argued to arise predominantly from the different levels of intrinsic disorder in the two systems. A significant proportion of the enhancement of the thermal conductivity above $T_P$ in Na$_{0.9}$Mo$_6$O$_{17}$, and to a lesser extent in K$_{0.9}$Mo$_6$O$_{17}$, is attributed to the emergence of phason excitations.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, To appear in Physical Review

Demonstrating Additional Law of Relativistic Velocities based on Squeezed Light

Special relativity is foundation of many branches of modern physics, of which theoretical results are far beyond our daily experience and hard to realized in kinematic experiments. However, its outcomes could be demonstrated by making use of convenient substitute, i.e. squeezed light in present paper. Squeezed light is very important in the field of quantum optics and the corresponding transformation can be regarded as the coherent state of SU(1; 1). In this paper, the connection between the squeezed operator and Lorentz boost is built under certain conditions. Furthermore, the additional law of relativistic velocities and the angle of Wigner rotation are deduced as well

Some Low Dimensional Evidence for the Weak Gravity Conjecture

We discuss a few examples in 2+1 dimensions and 1+1 dimensions supporting a recent conjecture concerning the relation between the Planck scale and the coupling strength of a non-gravitional interaction, unlike those examples in 3+1 dimensions, we do not have to resort to exotic physics such as small black holes. However, the result concerning these low dimensional examples is a direct consequence of the 3+1 dimensional conjecture.Comment: 7 pages, harvma

Warm-Hot Gas in and around the Milky Way: Detection and Implications of OVII Absorption toward LMC X-3

X-ray absorption lines of highly-ionized species such as OVII at about zero redshift have been firmly detected in the spectra of several active galactic nuclei. However, the location of the absorbing gas remains a subject of debate. To separate the Galactic and extragalactic contributions to the absorption, we have obtained Chandra LETG-HRC and FUSE observations of the black hole X-ray binary LMC X--3. A joint analysis of the detected OVII and Ne IX Kalpha lines, together with the non-detection of the OVII Kbeta and OVIII Kalpha lines, gives the measurements of the temperature, velocity dispersion, and hot oxygen column density. The X-ray data also allow us to place a 95% confidence lower limit to the Ne/O ratio as 0.14. The OVII line centroid and its relative shift from the Galactic OI Kalpha absorption line, detected in the same observations, are inconsistent with the systemic velocity of LMC X--3 ($+310 {\rm km s^{-1}}$). The far-UV spectrum shows OVI absorption at Galactic velocities, but no OVI absorption is detected at the LMC velocity at $> 3\sigma$ significance. Both the nonthermal broadening and the decreasing scale height with the increasing ionization state further suggest an origin of the highly-ionized gas in a supernova-driven galactic fountain. In addition, we estimate the warm and hot electron column densities from our detected OVII Kalpha line in the LMC X--3 X-ray spectra and from the dispersion measure of a pulsar in the LMC vicinity. We then infer the O/H ratio of the gas to be $\gtrsim 8 \times 10^{-5}$, consistent with the chemically-enriched galactic fountain scenario. We conclude that the Galactic hot interstellar medium should in general substantially contribute to zero-redshift X-ray absorption lines in extragalactic sources.Comment: 11 pages, accepted for publication in Ap